Growth in the Inland Empire’s manufacturing sector may be slowing, according to the latest Report on Business from the Institute of Applied Research at California State University, San Bernardino.

For the third consecutive month, the region’s Purchasing Managers’ Index, which reflects important factors like new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries and the employment environment, registered below the baseline of 50.

While it isn’t clear yet whether this trend is simply a seasonal downturn — similar slowdowns have been observed in 2011, 2012 and 2015 — there is fortunately a growing optimism among purchasing managers.

According to IAR, 31 percent of purchasing managers queried last month expect the local economy to be stronger in the next quarter, up from 20 percent the prior month.

Additionally, the PMI increased in December from 45.3 to 47.5, which not only indicates things are moving in the right direction, but underscores that the regional economy as a whole is relatively healthy.

These perspectives, and some positive indicators from the Production Index and New Orders index, lead the researchers to project that “the local economy will remain in growth mode for at least the next three months.”

While it is certainly welcomed that the local economy generally is on the right track, continued stagnation of the manufacturing sector, both regionally and statewide, clearly comes to the detriment of those for whom manufacturing is a gateway to the middle class.

Late last year, economist John Husing, in a report presented at the Seventh Annual Southern California Economic Summit, determined that “the prognosis for manufacturing job growth in the Inland Empire is unfortunately weak,” in large part due to factors beyond the region’s control.

According to Husing, between January 2010 and September 2016, whereas seasonally adjusted manufacturing employment grew by 802,000 nationwide, California only captured 34,600 of those jobs.

This is largely a consequence of California’s anti-competitive economic policies and fixation on committing to renewable energy usage at all costs, which drive up the cost of doing business enough to encourage employers to look elsewhere.

With an incoming Trump administration, the tide may turn for the manufacturing industry nationwide, though that remains to be seen. Whether California, and the Inland Empire, are in a place to potentially benefit is even less certain.